By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

Eight-year-old Pontiac St. Mary’s Student Jalene Woolford was giving an honorary signing to the Bradley Women’s Basketball team recently, bringing a smile to the cancer patient’s face.

Pontiac Police Chief Jim Woolford said this happened through a program called Team Impact, which pairs a patient with a college team, and when they applied, Bradley responded immediately.

Young Jalene received her own locker, seat on the bench and numbered jersey for the team in a ceremony in Peoria.

“Jalene said it was one of the few times in her life she was speechless. WMBD was there and they wanted to interview Jalene and she got stage fright, which I’ve never seen before in my life from this girl. She was just overwhelmed with everything that was going on. My wife and I were just overexcited for her. The girls on the team made her feel so welcome. They surrounded her and just all a part of having her on their team and just treated her like she’d been there forever,” Woolford said.

Jalene suffers from spinal astrocytoma, which is considered a brain tumor. Her father said her tumor is found in the base of her skull and surgeons couldn’t separate it from her spinal cord, so she went through radiation and is now on chemotherapy. The last MRI showed the tumor was stable.

“Of course, mom and dad and Jalene would like for the tumor to go away, but if it’s stable and manageable, we’ll take what we can get,” Woolford said.

Her father said although this signing was honorary, they have hope for the future.

“That’s what they say, and we’re hoping she gets in a game or two. She has a little height disadvantage versus some of those girls,” Woolford joked.